Klussmann is pick in Democratic runoff
He brings a long record of service and compromise.
Last fall, Texas Republicans drew a new congressional district in western Harris County. This red-red-red seat was designed to specifically advantage Wesley Hunt, an Iraq war veteran who came within four points of beating U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher in another district in 2020.
The new district — the 38th — encompasses affluent parts of Houston such as River Oaks and stretches into conservative areas such as Tomball and Cypress. Hunt, who won the Republican primary, will be tough to beat. He’s been endorsed by both Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and has a formidable campaign war chest, with $1.8 million on hand as of March 31.
It will take a Democratic candidate with public service experience and a willingness to work across the aisle to make this race competitive. Of the two candidates in the primary runoff, we believe Democrats stand the best chance in November with Duncan Klussmann, a former Spring Branch ISD superintendent.
Diana Martinez Alexander, 48, a Houston ISD teacher and local activist, impressed us, and we admired her command of the issues facing the next Congress. She has fought hard to advance crucial issues near to the hearts of Democratic primary voters, such as voting rights, while also talking up local concerns such as flood mitigation and protecting Texas’ energy grid.
Klussman, 58, brings a different style. Rather than a partisan battler, he fancies himself as more of a consensus builder.
“I’ve developed legislation on the state level from writing it out on a napkin to getting it passed,” Klussman said. “Nothing ever ends up as the way you first started, you have to work it through the process.”
We think that approach will work well for the legislator representing the 38th.
Klussmann’s priorities are kitchentable issues all voters worry about. He’d stress getting the supply chain moving, ensuring the Houston area gets federal support for flood mitigation and tackling rising inflation. He also said he’d work to expand Medicaid for Texas and push universal pre-K. Where he most impressed us was committing to boosting Houston’s role as the nation’s energy capital while also balancing concerns about climate change. He said he would continue to support providing federal subsidies to oil and gas companies, but with stipulations that require them to show how they’d invest in clean energy.
“It’s not that oil and gas completely goes away,” he said. “It’s really important for elected leaders to bring together management and labor to be able to work together on a plan to do that to make that transition happen.”
A Democratic vote for Klussmann will go further, thanks largely to his long record of service leading a school district, a role in which he reminded us he often worked with elected trustees and other officials.